This month Thriving Earth Exchange is launching the 100th community science project since our program started six years ago. What a milestone!
We would not be here without YOU—the communities and scientists who have worked together to achieve impacts that are greater than anyone could achieve alone. Thank you.
What does 100 projects look like?
Our first 100 projects have brought incredible experiences, lessons and—most importantly—concrete impacts in communities around the world. They’ve provided point-by-point plans to help cities dramatically reduce carbon emissions. They’ve equipped residents to fight risky developments that would exacerbate flooding and endanger neighborhoods. They’ve produced low-cost environmental monitoring tools to help communities hold polluters accountable. They’ve created community resources that help people unleash their creativity to improve their physical, social and economic environments. And so much more.
Communities are at the heart of community science. They’re why we do what we do. And at the heart of any community science effort is people—people working to solve problems, people working to get information, people working to build relationships across divides, and people working to make meaningful change. It took a lot of people to get Thriving Earth Exchange to 100 projects (check out our infographic for a snapshot). But even though these numbers are impressive, they are tiny compared to the tens of millions of people estimated to be impacted in some way by the outcomes of these projects.
A big part of what we’ve strived to do through Thriving Earth Exchange is learn from our volunteers and our 100 projects to create a framework and process that works for community science projects across a broad spectrum of topics and teams. Whether you’re helping city planners and frustrated residents find common ground or creating a tool to translate national-level data for local decision making, there are certain steps, ground rules and ways of operating that are going to help you establish a productive collaboration and get your project off the ground.
By offering tools and lessons learned through our own experiences, we hope to inspire and equip others to use this collaborative approach to address community priorities in hundreds—better yet, thousands!—of communities around the world.
Celebrate with us at Fall Meeting
We’re extra pleased to reach our 100-projects milestone during AGU’s Centennial! If you’re headed to AGU Fall Meeting (held 9-13 December in San Francisco), please join us for a special series of events celebrating the role of community science in efforts to address critical challenges and improve our world. Fall Meeting will also feature many stimulating scientific sessions and networking opportunities focused on co-creation and community science. Find our curated program here.
